NCAA Indoor Women — Hogs Hold Off The Trojans

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA, March 08-09—Arkansas won its second NCAA Women’s Indoor Championships team title with an impressive 62 points, equal to the No. 4 total ever. But what was generally conceded to be a runaway victory for the Razorbacks was much closer than anticipated as USC seemed to continually max out in its events, scoring 51. The win wasn’t decided until the closing 4×4, when Arkansas finished 3rd and USC 6th.

The pentathlon started the proceedings, with Miami’s Michelle Atherley leading throughout. The senior’s 4547 PR made her the No. 7 scoring 5-eventer in collegiate history, and put her at No. 9 on the U.S. all-time list. Kennesaw State’s Jordan Gray’s was next at 4412, while Arkansas junior Kelsey Herman, anticipated to score, could not match her SEC 4330 win, which would have placed her 3rd. A bad day left her out of the scoring, but did little to hurt the Arkansas team’s chances.

Wisconsin junior Alicia Monson displayed again why she has become one of the distance finds of the year after a stunning Millrose 3000 win in 8:45.97. In the 5000 here she stalked New Mexico’s Weini Kelati, whose XC Champs 2nd had beaten Monson by two places. Kelati took the lead with a little more than 2000m remaining, then began her closing surge with 1500 to go. Settling into a new rhythm of 71-second 400s, she and Monson gradually split the field, and were clear with 800 left. Monson waited until the last lap before closing with a 33.65 final 200, her PR 15:31.26 leaving Kelati 10m back in 15:32.95.

The long jump provided a minor upset as Northwestern Louisiana junior Jasmyn Steels PRed on her opening jump at 21-2½. One would have thought the jump was not far enough to ice the field, but no one topped that mark, although Texas A&M soph Deborah Acquah matched it in round 5. But Steel’s consistency gave her the better second effort, and her third-best jump of the day would have sufficed for a 3rd-place finish. USC’s Margaux Jones was unable to match her season best, which would have scored minor points, but that was only becoming relevant in the emerging picture as USC’s sprinters and hurdlers were advancing through the qualifying rounds.

Florida’s Yanis David added a long jump 3rd to a list-leading win the triple jump. (ERROL ANDERSON/THE SPORTING IMAGE)

In the heats, USC emerged unscathed with the exception of reigning outdoor 200 champion Angie Annelus. Included in the Trojan assault was a quartet of hurdlers who advanced in positions 2-4-5-7. But this was the place where Arkansas and USC would face off with the biggest points on the line, two Razorbacks advancing, 1-6.

The distance medley closed out the first day with Oregon winning in 10:53.43, the No. 8 collegiate time ever. Anchored by Jessica Hull, who took off only a meter behind BYU, the Ducks were in control the whole way, although Hull waited until the last lap to take the lead, finishing ahead of BYU’s 10:54.14. Arkansas, with Taylor Werner running the fastest anchor with a 4:30.03, started the final leg in 5th and finished in the same place. Scores at the end of the first day showed Arkansas with 4 points to USC’s 0, but with both teams looking to overwhelm the other contenders on Saturday.

The mile opened Day 2’s running events and Arkansas—the only school with multiple starters—had a chance to put its stamp on the team competition, but finished with a middling 4 points, Carina Viljoen finishing 5th and Lauren Gregory not scoring. Julia Rizk, an Ohio State senior, passed 2017 indoor champion Karisa Nelson going into the last lap and held off the Samford senior, 4:37.63–4:38.24.

The hurdles was the big matchup between Arkansas and USC. Their leading entrants, Payton Chadwick and Chanel Brissett, matched 7.93 heat times, and USC had the better depth. Brissett got out well and stayed ahead despite a closing rush from North Carolina A&T’s Kayla White. Brissett’s 7.90 matched her PR, with White running a PR at 7.92 and Chadwick taking 3rd in 7.97. Behind them, Arkansas’s Janeek Brown finished 5th (8.04), with the other SC qualifiers Dior Hall and Mecca McGlaston finishing 6th and 7th, as Anna Cockrell (hamstring) did not start. USC tallied 15 points, but Arkansas was close with 10.

The 800 title went to fast-closing Danae Rivers of Penn State. (ERROL ANDERSON/THE SPORTING IMAGE)

The 400 found USC with two qualifiers, and when Kyra Constantine won the first section in 52.32, it was apparent the Trojans might score well. Lynna Irby was the class of the field, and when she went out hard in the second section if appeared to be a runaway. But the Georgia soph faded badly on the second lap, finishing last in the section as SC soph Kaelin ran her to the wall before breaking away. Roberts won comfortably in a world-leading 51.50, posting a 5m advantage over runner-up Aliyah Abrams of South Carolina in 52.27. Constantine was suddenly 3rd overall, and the 16 points were a major boost for USC.

The 60 provided another SC/Arkansas match, and here the results could not have been much more favorable for the Trojans as soph Twanisha Terry gained the win with a collegiate-leading 7.14 PR, while Arkansas’s Kiara Parker was 8th and last. Behind Terry, three ran photofinish 7.19s: Texas’s Teahna Daniels (7.181), Florida Stater Ka’Tia Seymour (7.183) and UNLV’s Destiny Smith-Barnett (7.188).

The 200 was likely to be USC’s last chance at a major swing in points. But Chadwick put the kibosh on that, as the Arkansas star won the first section in 22.99, defeating both USC runners, Lanae-Tava Thomas in 2nd (23.06) and Lauren Rain Williams 4th (23.22), each team eventually scoring 5 points. The second section saw hurdles runner-up White, one of the meet’s major revelations, barely winning the battle against Texas frosh Kynnedy Flannel. Flannel ran most of the way in lane 6, but drifted down into White’s 5 on the second turn. White fought her off with her right arm and then passed her, winning by less than a step in a world-leading 22.66 as Kennedy was disqualified.

At that point USC nominally led the team scoring 48–25, but with the vault reaching its conclusion the three Arkansas vaulters had clinched 2-3-4. Lexi Jacobus had trailed San Diego State’s Bonnie Draxler on misses through the later heights and at 14-11½ (4.56) had been outjumped as she passed while Draxler cleared a PR. With the bar at 15-1½ (4.61), Jacobus cleared on her second attempt, while Draxler missed three. Jacobus’s win plus Tori Hoggard’s 3rd and Desiree Freier’s 4th—both at 14-7½ (4.46)—gave Arkansas 21 points, leaving them 2 behind with only the 3000 and relay left.

The 3000 was Arkansas’s chance to take the lead and establish a comfort margin, as both schools had 4×4 entries. Werner, the Arkansas DMR anchor, and Gregory, 10th in the mile, ran in scoring position throughout, moving up to 3rd and 5th by the midpoint. Kelati took control with 800 to go until Werner took the lead with 2 laps left and Hull on her heels. Hull swept past to a 9:01.14 win, but the 11 Arkansas points from Werner’s 2nd (9:01.75) and Gregory’s 6th gave them an 8-point margin.

Running in section 2 of the climactic relay, USC—minus regular fixture Cockrell—finished 2nd, now needing its 3:32.47 to stand up against all four top-seeded teams in the final section, including Arkansas, which would have to finish 9th or worse over all to lose the meet. Arkansas ran 3:30.86 for 3rd in the race, Chadwick running anchor behind South Carolina (3:30.76) and Texas A&M (3:30.85).

Arkansas coach Lance Harter praised his team’s comethrough performances after having told his 3000 runners, “Ladies, we’ve got to step up.” The win had not been the runaway that might have been: “We felt USC all the time; they cashed in every time.”

Offered USC head Caryl Smith Gilbert, “Wow, what a day…is all I can say. I am so excited about this young team and the show they put on… we were able to capitalize on all of our scoring opportunities and earn 2nd place.”

For more details on individual-event results, check out our Friday and Saturday recaps.